HAYS, Kan., March 21, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today vetoed comprehensive energy legislation recently approved by the Kansas Legislature.
"I am certainly disappointed by the governor's veto," Earl Watkins, Sunflower's president and CEO said. "This compromise bill was the result of many months of hard work by Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate. The legislation protects our environment, supports renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, and restores confidence in government.
"If not resolved, this veto will unnecessarily raise electric rates for Kansas families and punish our Kansas workers and industries," Watkins said. "We are experiencing significant growth on the Sunflower system, and we must add new coal generation to support our existing natural gas and wind generation assets."
Earnie Lehman, Midwest Energy's president and CEO, agreed that failure of the bill will have a negative effect throughout the state.
"The governor's veto fails to meet our customers' need for reliable, efficient, and cost-effective around-the-clock energy," said Lehman. "Midwest Energy's leadership in securing wind energy and expanding energy efficiency and conservation programs is simply not enough to meet our consumers' energy needs.
"We can't rely even more heavily on expensive and increasingly scarce supplies of natural gas to generate electricity," Lehman added. "This veto is bad news for our electric customers, and it's also bad for our gas customers and others, all over Kansas, who will see their heating bills rise."
Senate Bill 327 has broad support from Kansas business and industry, agriculture, labor, and most importantly, Kansas citizens who agree that sound energy policies are necessary to protect our economy during these difficult times.
Lehman and Watkins both believe that by vetoing the legislation, Gov. Sebelius missed a real opportunity for her administration and the State of Kansas to demonstrate true leadership in meeting the difficult challenge of providing affordable baseload power while minimizing carbon emissions.
"Without the Holcomb expansion, our planned integrated bioenergy center will be more difficult to complete," Watkins said.
Lehman added, "The combination of these advanced power plants and the bioenergy center can place Kansas at the center the bio-technology development in the world."
Watkins and Lehman both agree that the project partners intend to work with other cooperatives, industry, agriculture, labor unions, citizens and the Legislature to overturn this unfortunate decision.
About Midwest Energy-
Midwest Energy, Inc., headquartered in Hays, Kansas, is an electric and natural gas utility serving nearly 90,000 customers in 42 central and western Kansas counties. Midwest Energy maintains almost 11,000 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. For further information, visit Midwest Energy's website at: http://www.mwenergy.com.
About Sunflower-
Sunflower Electric Power Corporation is a regional wholesale power supplier that operates a 1,257 MW system of wind, gas, and coal-based generating plants and a 2,300-mile transmission system for the needs of its six member cooperatives who serve more than 400,000 customers living in central and western Kansas. Visit Sunflower's website at http://www.sunflower.net
Sunflower's member cooperatives include Lane-Scott Electric Cooperative, Dighton; Pioneer Electric Cooperative, Ulysses; Prairie Land Electric Cooperative, Norton; Victory Electric Cooperative Association, Dodge City; Western Cooperative Electric Association, WaKeeney; and Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Scott City, Kansas.